The Unassuming Economist

From a paper by Ihtisham Hussain, Abdul Saqib, and Hooi Hooi Lean:

“Alleviating environmental damage has become a significant challenge for BRICS countries, where economic progress amidst urbanization and fossil fuel consumption pollutes the environment. In this context, BRICS countries must transition from fossil fuels to green energy to sustain their economic progress and protect the environment. However, economic policy uncertainty may affect their fight against climate change and their actions towards environmental sustainability. Therefore, this study examines the roles of economic policy uncertainty and green energy in the environmental sustainability of BRICS countries. Under the STIRPAT framework, we employ a novel augmented autoregressive distributed lag model. Our results show that green energy has a negative and significant impact on carbon emissions and temperature. Moreover, economic policy uncertainty aggravates carbon emissions and temperature in India and Russia. But it was found to reduce carbon emissions and temperature in Brazil and China. To better address the impacts of policy uncertainty on environmental outcomes, Brazil and China should expand renewable energy investments and stabilize economic policies, while India and Russia could prioritize the transition to cleaner technologies and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels to enhance environmental sustainability.”

From a paper by Hugo Morão:

“This study quantifies the impact of European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on inflation and key macroeconomic variables in the Euro Area (EA). Using a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model, the analysis reveals that stricter climate policies significantly affect industrial production, unemployment, and inflation in transportation, utilities, and food sectors. Furthermore, the post-2020 regulatory adjustments in emissions caps and allowances have contributed to recent consumer price increases, an effect amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions. The findings suggest the European Commission underestimated the macroeconomic consequences of EU ETS Phase 4. This highlights the need for a more flexible climate policy approach that balances environmental goals with macroeconomic stability.”

From UNDP:

“The European Union (EU) has committed funding of $1 Million to the Africa Facility to Support Inclusive Transitions (AFSIT), a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Union Commission (AUC). This funding will advance the development and updating of the Africa Transition Index (ATI) platform, providing African governments with vital data-driven insights to guide their transitions, strengthen governance and promote long-term stability across the continent.

ATI is designed to equip policymakers with the tools they need to make informed decisions that ensure stability and foster sustainable development. By addressing the challenges of governance, AFSIT will support African nations in crafting long-term, inclusive solutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.”

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From a paper by Jangho Yang and Christian Schoder:

“This study examines the impact of temperature uncertainty on firm fixed capital growth using a unique dataset that merges extensive firm-level financial data with detailed gridlevel weather data. The analysis reveals a strong negative relationship between temperature uncertainty and fixed capital growth. Furthermore, the impact varies significantly across industries with differing levels of investment irreversibility and among countries with varying income levels. Firms in industries characterized by high investment irreversibility and those operating in higher-income countries experience more pronounced declines in fixed asset growth due to temperature uncertainty.”

From a paper by Peterson K. Ozili:

“Contractionary monetary and fiscal policy jointly reduce CO₂ emissions in the regions of the Americas and Africa. Contractionary monetary and fiscal policy combined with higher renewable energy consumption jointly reduce CO₂ emissions in the regions of the Americas, Asia and Europe. Also, contractionary monetary and fiscal policy combined with higher institutional quality jointly reduce CO₂ emissions in African countries. Higher renewable energy consumption reduces CO₂ emissions in Africa, Asia, Europe and Americas regions while strong institutional quality consistently reduce CO₂ emissions in Europe and the Americas.”